MSU freshmen Jordan Scott, Cam Ward got jitters out. Now it's showtime at home
Jordan Scott and Cam Ward are going home for the Sweet 16.
The Michigan State basketball freshmen from the DMV will make a return to Washington this weekend when the 3-seed Spartans take on No. 2 seed Connecticut in the East region semifinal on Friday, March 27, at Capital One Arena.
“I don’t think it’s hit yet,” Scott said after MSU’s 77-69 victory over 6-seed Louisville on Saturday. “I think probably, maybe, on the way back to East Lansing, it’ll probably hit then. But it’ll just be fun. I get to go back home and play.”
Scott, from nearby Reston, Virginia, just northwest of DC, said he has never played at Capital One Arena, home of the Washington Wizards and Capitals.
Ward, who is from east of the Potomac River in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, said he hasn’t been on the court there since playing in halftime games as a young kid learning basketball.
“It’s definitely surreal,” Ward said Saturday. “Just to play in a big environment like that and with a lot at stake and on the line, I just can’t wait. I’m excited.”
Tipoff between the Spartans (27-7) and Huskies (31-5) is 9:45 p.m. It will be televised on CBS to a national audience.
Last year, two MSU players – Jesse McCulloch ( Cleveland ) and Coen Carr ( Atlanta ) – each got to go to their hometowns during the NCAA Tournament. Now, it’s Scott and Ward’s turn.
“How about that? Those two get to go home. So now I gotta worry about distractions and dirtbags,” MSU coach Tom Izzo said Saturday, grinning through his joke. “This gives me something else to worry about. But thank God they both got incredible families. And can you imagine how proud and excited those parents are? … It’s like a storybook.”
Scott’s mother, Christy Winters-Scott, played basketball at Maryland and overseas, then coached at both the college and high school level. She’s now a TV color commentator for Big Ten Network, among others, and calls both college and WNBA games. Her husband, Jerome, played basketball at Miami (Florida).
Ward played for his father, Rodney, at Largo High in Upper Marlboro, where his mother, Ayana, is both the athletic director and girls basketball coach.
The duo’s first NCAA Tournament exposure in the first- and second-round wins over North Dakota State and Louisville was valuable, even though they admitted their nerves were a bit frayed with the newness and win-or-go home stakes. Izzo said he hopes to use Ward defensively against UConn’s 6-8 senior Alex Karaban , while Scott will look to help slow the Huskies' three-guard group that includes 6-4 junior Solo Ball (from Leesburg, Virginia) and 6-6 freshman Braylon Mullins.
“Cam and Jordan, I want them to learn a lot and I wanted them to learn it quickly,” Izzo said Monday in East Lansing. “Because they’re two big, important parts for the team. … I really do believe that both guys will be better with the experience they get. You cannot substitute for experience, whether you’re coaching or whether you’re playing.”
Ward came off the bench with 13 points, two blocks and a rebound in 16 minutes of the opener against NDSU but managed just two points and two rebounds against Louisville.
Scott, who has started since early February, had six points and three rebounds against the Bison but committed three turnovers against the Cardinals while adding four points, two blocks and two boards.
“I felt that they gave us some minutes. But they looked like freshmen,” Izzo said Saturday. “I think they’ll be a lot better on the next game. I think there was a little nervousness, there was a little apprehension. They realize – I have a great line that I use a lot, and I say, ‘The my bads, you can stick them where the sun doesn’t shine.’ A couple times, both of them came out and said, ‘It was my bad.’ No, it doesn’t work now. This poor (senior) here, he’s going home on your bad.
“So you gotta man up and you gotta figure it out. And they will. I mean, I got two great freshmen. And by the way, they didn’t play awful, they just probably made some mistakes that we didn’t want them to make, that they shouldn’t have made.”
The irony is that even with their admitted nervousness − which Izzo was captured on video playfully pointing out in the postgame locker room − Scott and Ward helped the Spartans enough to take them home for the weekend.
Now, a shot at a Final Four is next.
“I think (Saturday) was maybe a lot of jitters, just because we knew what was at stake,” Ward said. “I think you’ll see us respond well come next week.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com . Follow him @chrissolari .
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State's Jordan Scott, Cam Ward got jitters out, time to shine
